One of the great conferences. Warm friendly folk. Excited to show off their spot in the north.

Sheryl Mai, Mayor of Whangarei, welcomed the delegates and partners.
The GoughCAT dinner was served one table at a time. Great food brought out by 20 or so young dedicated conscientious waiters and waitresses. A dinner assisted by Bridon/Cookes sponsored wines.

The guest speaker, Mr John Anderson regaled us his wonderful, amazing Con-tiki story – how it all began, on the [European] continent, how it developed and grew – to become one of the most recognisable worldwide companies. His speech set the scene – a true demonstration of passion.

There were some new sponsors among the 57 display stands – all ensured that the conference was a great success. We sincerely thank them all.

Speakers presented a mix of educational, technical, research, legal, topics. A political flavour was included by Simon Bridges.

The day of the Cable-Price sponsored field trip to Dickson’s Quarry at Glenbervie was a sunny one in the middle of winter. The Prime Explosives blast went of smoothly as planned, and the demonstration of latest in loader and 6 wheel drive dumper kept the delegates’ eyes peeled.

Real Steel reminded us about their Hardox brand of steel over a quiet beer at the Kamo Club, and the Hard Rock band soon found a bloke from the South Island rumoured to be Ed Sheeran’s twin brother.

Former rugby union boss of the referees, Paddy O’Brien got us all thinking about the finer points of rugby league at the Porter Group luncheon held at home of Northland Rugby Union – the “new” Toll Stadium (completed in May 2010).

The Pirtek-sponsored pre-dinner drinks and wines ensured that everyone was in exactly the right mood to celebrate the industry successes at the Transdiesels/Volvo Awards Dinner.